incredibly rich and erudite writing on a few of my — book aside — favourite topics. genuinely made my (sun)day! thank you Denise and the RoL!
speaking of classical music, in earlier versions of the book, some episodes also featured Wyschnegradsky and his 24 Preludes which I love dearly and highly recommend (they are quarter-tonal with two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart playing pitches outside of standard notation), but then I decided to "focus" on Shostakovich and do Wyschnegradsky justice some time later!
During my stint selling subscriptions for the St. Louis Symphony I bought some recordings of Oistrakh and I understand that stage direction immediately. The tone of the playing is very obvious even if you cannot communicate it in technical musical analysis.
you might be interested in the concept of symbiosism, which views language/ words as our symbionts.
Symbiosism is a philosophical field researching the symbiotic relationship between language and humans, where our relationship with language is presented as a complex and mutually beneficial interaction. The concept was developed at the Leiden school of linguistics by George van Driem and colleagues.
The idea of language as an organism dates back to early 19th-century linguists like Friedrich von Schlegel and Wilhelm von Humboldt, who described language as a living entity.
Although it is valid to argue that different languages represent the world differently, therefore obstructing communication, it can equally be argued that "Language enhances human Darwinian fitness by enabling complex communication, cooperation, and the transmission of knowledge across generations. It allows for the creation of shared cultural identities and facilitates the development of sophisticated social structures. In return, humans provide a host environment where language can replicate and evolve, ensuring its survival and adaptation" etc.
This is a great piece! I didn’t want it to end. Convinced me to buy the book. Russian is the language of my soul and I have a very complicated relationship with it (soul / Russian language). Hope to find some answers in Vanya Bagayev’s stories.
incredibly rich and erudite writing on a few of my — book aside — favourite topics. genuinely made my (sun)day! thank you Denise and the RoL!
speaking of classical music, in earlier versions of the book, some episodes also featured Wyschnegradsky and his 24 Preludes which I love dearly and highly recommend (they are quarter-tonal with two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart playing pitches outside of standard notation), but then I decided to "focus" on Shostakovich and do Wyschnegradsky justice some time later!
During my stint selling subscriptions for the St. Louis Symphony I bought some recordings of Oistrakh and I understand that stage direction immediately. The tone of the playing is very obvious even if you cannot communicate it in technical musical analysis.
you might be interested in the concept of symbiosism, which views language/ words as our symbionts.
Symbiosism is a philosophical field researching the symbiotic relationship between language and humans, where our relationship with language is presented as a complex and mutually beneficial interaction. The concept was developed at the Leiden school of linguistics by George van Driem and colleagues.
The idea of language as an organism dates back to early 19th-century linguists like Friedrich von Schlegel and Wilhelm von Humboldt, who described language as a living entity.
Although it is valid to argue that different languages represent the world differently, therefore obstructing communication, it can equally be argued that "Language enhances human Darwinian fitness by enabling complex communication, cooperation, and the transmission of knowledge across generations. It allows for the creation of shared cultural identities and facilitates the development of sophisticated social structures. In return, humans provide a host environment where language can replicate and evolve, ensuring its survival and adaptation" etc.
see also https://grokipedia.com/page/symbiosism
Excellent piece. Love a (many) footnote(s)!
This is a great piece! I didn’t want it to end. Convinced me to buy the book. Russian is the language of my soul and I have a very complicated relationship with it (soul / Russian language). Hope to find some answers in Vanya Bagayev’s stories.
Thank you, this is an excellent review of an excellent book.
Fantastic, I loved it
Really liked this, especially the opening
What a great read, absolutely riveting.